Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure is by far the best out of any Dragon Ball movie released during the series' original run. The fast-paced action fits well with the story, however some improvements can be made.
STORY: The story follows a strange mashup of events occurring in the Tournament, Red Ribbon Army, General Blue, Commander Red and Tien Shinhan Sagas of Dragon Ball. It revolves around Goku and Krillin, who have now completed their training under Master Roshi, attending the Martial Arts Championship in the kingdom of Mifan, ruled by Emperor Chiaotzu, so they can speak to Chiaotzu about the killing that his men are doing. In this time Chiaotzu has lost his "wife" (who turns out to be a doll) name Ran Ran, causing his men to go out and find her. Master Shen suggests that Chiaotzu send Mercenary Tao (renamed General Tao) to find the Dragon Balls so a wish can be made to The Eternal Dragon to bring Ran Ran back to Chiaotzu. General Blue (renamed Lieutenant Blue) suggests to Chiaotzu that Shen is evil and wants to use the Dragon Balls for himself only to be killed by Tao. Shen gathers all of the Dragon Balls besides one, which is held by Upa and his father Bora. They flee their land to Mifan where they are attacked by Major Metallitron while searching for the Dragon Balls. Goku, Krillin and Master Roshi help out and tell Tao that Bora is a guest of Mifan and that he shouldn't be killed as a result. During the tournament Goku meets back up with Bulma, Oolong, Yamcha, Puar and Launch who are looking to steal the Dragon Balls from Shen, which they eventually do, only for Master Shen to attack them, causing them to drop the Dragon Balls into a chasm. As the tournament progresses Tao enters in a match against Bora, which eventually results in Bora being impaled and killed on a statue. Seeking revenge for the death of his friend Goku tries to fight Bora, only to be hit by a Dodon Ray and only surviving due to the Dragon Ball hidden in his gi. He then meets Korin who gives him advice which allows him to confront Tao where their fight takes them to Penguin Village where they meet Arale Norimaki (from Dr. Slump). Eventually, Tao is killed by his missiles being redirected at him by Goku and Arale, allowing Goku to return to Mifan. Shen orders Tien to kill Emperor Chiaotzu, even though the two had a deep bond. Tien refuses and instead kills Shen with a Tri-Beam, as Goku arrives and kills Major Metallitron with a flying headbutt. Goku throws his Dragon Ball down the chasm to summon the Eternal Dragon, where he uses his wish to resurrect Bora, reuniting him with Upa, saving the day.
PROS: This movie's voice acting is a MAJOR step-up from that of the previous movie, Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle. All of the returning characters like Bulma, Yamcha, Krillin, Master Roshi and more all sound identical to their anime counterparts, albeit with the exception of Goku. This isn't a problem, however, as Goku has a surprisingly low number of lines despite being the main character. The animation was also top notch, with action scenes having a real sense of impact and weight which really makes every hit feel like it counts, something which was sorely missing from the previous entry. This movie also tries to go for more emotional scenes which is rare for Dragon Ball and pulls them off spectacularly, such as the bonding between Emperor Chiaotzu and Tien when Chiaotzu had a bad dream. The interaction feels so real and you really get a feel for the deep bond these two characters share.
CONS: However, like any movie, this one has it's fair share of problems. One of the main ones is the story. As you can tell from the lengthy paragraph I wrote on it, the story can be rather confusing at times as you can tell that they are trying to fit 5 seasons' worth of story and characters into one 50 minute movie. Another one is the vast differences in the story and roles of characters, with Chiaotzu serving the role of Commander Red, Master Shen serving the role of Staff Officer Black and Tao being an odd amalgamation of his anime counterpart and General Blue. Overall the movie attempted to be both a retelling of the Dragon Ball story, and it's own unique thing, and I feel it would've been better off choosing one or the other. The movie would definitely have benefited with a longer runtime so that scenes don't have to feel as rushed as it tries to contain it's rather ambitious story into a 50 minutes runtime to match with the movies that came before. Hell, half the final scenes of the movie are taken up by the credits which were hastily placed over half the screen during the ending sequence, obscuring the audience's vision during the summoning of the Eternal Dragon and the resurrection of Bora, just to keep the runtime down!
VERDICT: Despite the lengthy paragraph I wrote for the movie's cons, this is a very good movie. It serves as a fantastic introduction to the Dragon Ball franchise, and has a good share of funny moments and what few action sequences are there are very impressively animated. The emotional moments between Emperor Chiaotzu and Tien also are very well written, backed up by incredible voice acting for almost all characters (once again with the exception of Goku). This movie is a must watch for anyone interesting in, or currently loving the Dragon Ball series and easily the best out of the original Dragon Ball movie trilogy.
